2023 Best & Brightest Business Major: Kamilah Latif, Hult International Business School

by: Jeff Schmitt on March 25, 2023 | 1,142 Views

Kamilah Latif

Hult International Business School

“Unapologetically daring diamond in the rough wearing a skirt.”

Fun fact about yourself: I come from a very international family: my father is Portuguese/Pakistani and my mother is Ecuadorian/Italian. I was born in Miami, FL but raised in Bogota, Colombia for 11 years until I moved back to Miami, FL to start high school, learn English and have access to a better treatment for my type one diabetes in the US.

Hometown: Miami, FL

High School: Alonzo & Tracy Mourning Senior High School

Major: Finance

Minor: Business Analytics

Favorite Business Course: Global Strategy

Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:

EY Career Path Accelerator (August 2022 – Expected 2024)

  • Began EY Career Accelerator Program to obtain requirements for CPA certification
  • Awarded a scholarship from the EY Foundation

Women + In Business | President (September 2021 – April 2023)

  • Lead the Hult award winning club, establishing accountability structure across the club while liaising with student services
  • Rebranding organization to increase accessibility, recruitment, and member activity
  • Hosted guest speakers and networking activities in multiple industries for members
  • Fostered collaboration with multiple clubs on campus allowing further opportunities that contributes to personal growth and exposure to campus activity for the Hult Community

Hult House | Resident Assistant (August 2021 – April 2023)

  • Managed 40 first-year students in dormitory-style living spaces
  • Available 24/7 to resolve conflicts and provide support to residents
  • Awarded the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Event of the Year for organizing collaborative event of Blessing Bags for Rosie’s Place Women’s Shelter with the Women + In Business Club
  • Spearheaded a money management workshop for all postgraduate and undergraduate residents of Hult House focused on budgeting and credit building
  • Managed administrative duties: incident reports, roommate mediations, programming, and emergency procedures
  • Organized community building events to foster relationships within members of the Hult House Community

Hult Scholar | Full Tuition Scholarship (August 2020 – August 2023)

  • Awarded The Hult Scholar Grant providing a full tuition scholarship to individuals who embody the “Hult DNA” being dynamic thinkers, high achievers, and influential leaders

Think-cell Software | Student Ambassador (March 2022 – April 2023)

  • Organize training sessions and drive awareness on campus
  • Aid members of campus become think-cell certified
  • Grow total user base while maintaining current base
  • Facilitate faculty connections for think-cell class integration

Girls Who Invest | Online Intensive Program Scholar (February 2022 – August 2022)

  • Completed selective, self-guided online educational program focused on understanding the investment industry and core investment concepts
  • Program modules included: CFA Institute Investment Foundations Program; Wall Street Prep courses in Excel, financial reports, and accounting; Wharton Online Foundations of Investment Management

Girls Who Invest | Campus Ambassador (August 2022 – April 2023)

  • Executed information sessions on campus for admission into Online Intensive Program and Summer Intensive Program while aiding on the application process

Unilever | Live Business Challenge Winner (2022)

  • Completed an Innovation Business Plan for a sustainable line for the brand “Clear” Shampoo in the China Market
  • Awarded as Live Challenge Winner by the Unilever Innovations Marketing Manager Maria Kotchetkova

New England Center and Home for Veterans | Volunteer (November 2022 – Present)

  • Volunteered on a weekly basis in the meal service assisting the NECHV kitchen staff serve breakfast/lunch/dinner

Goldman Sachs | Summer Insights Series (Summer 2021)

  • Attendee in a combination of live, interactive, and prerecorded, as well as prep work for recruitment

Bank of America Student Leaders Program (Summer 2019)

  • Attained position in The Bank of America Student Leaders summer program preparing a diverse pipeline of high school high-achieving, civic-minded students with leadership training needed to succeed professionally and to build thriving communities
  • Selected as one of the 283 Student Leaders from a pool of over 5,000 applicants in the country to participate in a paid 6-week leadership training centered on civic engagement and financial literacy
  • Travelled to Washington D.C. to attend a national leadership summit  which included visits to Capitol Hill to meet representatives of Florida (As a Student Leader from the Miami Market)
  • Volunteered with Boys and Girls Club as assigned local nonprofit focused on summer and after school programs for young people in need, to excel academically and reach their full potential

Girls Who Code | Summer Intensive Program (Summer 2018)

  • Selected as one of the 20 high school students in the Miami area for a 7-week summer intense program to get an inside look in the tech industry
  • Immersive instruction in web development, design, robotics, and mobile development with mentorship and exposure to top female engineers and entrepreneurs
  • Developed my first website using CSS, JavaScript, and HTML for an informational website based on my diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes

Where have you interned during your college career?

Ernst & Young LLP – New York City, NY (June 2022 – August 2022)

Strategy & Transactions Launch Intern

  • Rotating internship between Business Valuation and Transaction Diligence groups
  • Assisted in performing market approach business valuations using Capital IQ to find Guideline Comparable Public Companies
  • Conducted audit reconciliations in the construction of a Buy-Side deal Databook in the healthcare industry
  • Transferred data from audited financial statements and operating models to due diligence Databook
  • Structured Profit and Loss Analysis Schedules

Where will you be working after graduation? Ernst & Young LLP – Mergers & Acquisitions Consultant in Boston, MA

Who is your favorite business professor? As a Hult student, I was fortunate enough to have Dean Mo Willian as a professor when taking Global Strategy. At an International School, the insights drawn from a classroom are always full of diverse and opinionated discussions. However, throughout this course, Mo had an incredible way of sparking conversations which encouraged the classroom to non-stop dive deep into their backgrounds and use them to create the most fascinating lessons. Going into the classroom for hours felt seamless as I deeply enjoyed being challenged by Mo.

With the very limited time of having him as my Dean and Professor, I have felt the most motivated in his classroom to excel as not only an international student but a leader. Inside and outside of the classroom Mo Willian is always craving improvement, he holds true to his word, and he honors his commitment to making Hult a better place for the students.

In Mo’s classroom, I regained enthusiasm to be disciplined. I hope to graduate from Hult and have the same drive he has to fulfill whatever work and duties I take on while staying true to my purpose.

What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? Some people around you might have had a chance to be born with opportunities you didn’t. That’s advice and support you didn’t get, and resources you didn’t inherit. But everyone is born with a voice, and one must earn power and a seat at the table.

In your journey, you will be underestimated at times, looks will be judged, and others will have skills you don’t. Be confident in your abilities, exploit your talents, and focus on your own unique story. That is what will open the right doors in your personal, academic, and professional life.

Despite the fact that my unique story was not a fairytale, I was able to turn the conflicts from my story into numerous scholarships. Now with those scholarships, I was able to attend college as a first-generation student, who would never have been able to afford tuition or living expenses. Without those conflicts in my tale, graduating from university for free would not be a part of my happy ending.

Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why? Starting university, lots of time was spent searching for opportunities that “suited” my limited experience and knowledge. The reality is that I was never going to check all boxes and feel qualified enough to attend a Boston’s Professionals Networking Event as a student or apply for that program that seemed inaccessible. However, this hindered my capacity to connect with others and access learning opportunities. I would seize every opportunity for academic, professional, and personal improvement if I had the chance to do things differently. The worst thing that can happen is failing and from failure, you only learn and improve.

What business leader do you admire most? Whitney Wolfe Herd, CEO of Bumble, is undoubtedly someone to look up to who has inspired me through her every step in the business world. Herd experienced what is sadly a recurrent event for women in the corporate world: Discrimination, and harassment, amongst other behavior that can damage and discourage a young entrepreneur. Rather than being silenced or put down Herd turned around her situation and not only used the main components of her business partners’ wrong-doings into an opportunity for change and innovation but defied dating norms and even gender dynamics across the business world.

After a journey of ups and downs, it is admirable to see a young businesswomen succeed by using a platform that truly reflects and stands by what she believes in. In response to an attempt to restrain her, Herd created a platform where women are encouraged to make the first move rather than to stand by other’s approval.

Which academic, extracurricular, or personal achievement are you most proud of? Although I am extremely proud to be a first generation who will soon start as a consultant at a Big 4, the journey here started at the very beginning of high school as I learned how to manage my type one diabetes. As a young teenager, this diagnosis was hard to take in, as it would forever alter many aspects of my life. Adapting at first was challenging. After I accepted my diagnosis and embraced it as motivation, everything changed. My diagnosis and struggles with my treatment inspired the first academic accomplishments that would soon open more doors for me: award-winning business projects for DECA Business Club in high school and a website I coded from scratch to guide and educate those recently diagnosed at the Girls Who Code Summer Program. I had little knowledge of where these opportunities would take me, but I had high hopes for what was to come. Eventually, I would learn that the personal achievement of learning how to adjust to a new lifestyle, as little as it sounds now as a young woman entering the corporate world, would inspire the first steps that launched my career, passion, and interest in the business world.

Which classmate do you most admire? Daira Fernandez is without a doubt the classmate who I most admire. Starting as strangers with no interest to know each other Daira always captivated me. She is extremely smart, outspoken about what she believes in, confident in her abilities, and always willing to jump at the first chance to talk about happiness.

At first, I thought it was strange for someone to be so optimistic, so willing to fail and learn,  so eager to make friends with anyone, and incapable of disliking even those who had wronged her.

In a strange turn of events, while investing energy in the wrong places and people, I found a friend. She is a friend who taught me how to let go of the bad and hold tight to the good. With Daira, I can work, laugh, cry, have fun, and best of all be inspired to be my best self even if that means grounding me once in a while.

Currently, I am extremely proud to say that Daira, the classmate I admire the most, is a formidable adversary in the classroom, but outside she is my best friend.

Who would you most want to thank for your success? Pamela Martinetti, my mom. Regardless of our situation, she made choices based on what was best for me. Although we had  little to no resources left coming to the USA, our choices were limited, and my future was her priority. She inspired me to be tough in a world where resilience, independence and character is a must  to reach your goals and overcome obstacles.

From being homeless, fighting for a treatment for my type one diabetes and other auto immunes diseases, and being my rock as I found a path to start my career, she was nothing but a supportive mother. She motivated me with little knowledge, and without speaking the language but with enthusiasm to see me speak up in a room with the skirt that she chose for that interview, meeting, presentation, first day on the internship and soon to be, first day at work

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

  • Be featured as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes
  • Have an Executive Role at a Financial Services Firm

What are your hobbies? I  love journaling. From a very young age, I experienced unfortunate events that changed the course of my life. Although I love my family very deeply, I often found myself being unable to communicate with them fully. I keep a journal on my computer, which I hold close to me and has forever remained an important part of my passage. Whenever I need motivation, I find myself reading my own story. It is a passion of mine to dive into the unknown to grow up reading the tales of someone who always inspired me and who was there in my best and worst moments. Chapters in my journal are barely ever finished as I always go back to every lesson, friendship, mistake, and accomplishment to write more about their contributions to what is now my life.

What made Kamilah such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2023? (Please include name and title)

“Kamilah was an asset to the Class of 2023 because I watched her be an amazing example to her peers. After overcoming multiple adversities upon her arrival to the Boston campus, Kamilah became the face of positivity around the campus. From being involved in multiple organizations and holding leadership position to managing residents in Hult House as a part of the Residence Life Staff, Kamilah puts her all into everything she does and strives to make an impact while delivering the best experience for her peers and herself.

I think the most impressive part of all that Kamilah does is that she is able to stay committed to her studies and excel academically while being a shining member of the Hult Community in social and co-curricular activities.”

Anna Stewart
Student Accounts Manager

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